Phthalate intake by infants calculated from biomonitoring data.

Urine samples (n=207) of 47 infants between 1- and 5-month of age were quantitated for 12 metabolites of 7 phthalates and compared with samples collected from the mothers of the infants at different time points. Median and 95-percentile were lower for all metabolites in urine samples of infants compared to mothers. For di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) the 95-percentile daily intake was 23.

Phthalate and di-(2-ethylhexyl) adipate (DEHA) intake by German infants based on the results of a duplicate diet study and biomonitoring data (INES 2).

Phthalates as well as di-(2-ethylhexyl) adipate (DEHA) are used as plasticizers in diverse applications and are of toxicological concern. The study was conducted with a study population of 25 German subjects aged between 15 and 21 months. Overall, 16 phthalates and DEHA were measured by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry in a total of 171 duplicate diet samples collected over 7 consecutive days, and 20 phthalate metabolites were analyzed in the urine samples collected over 7 consecutive days using a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method.

Differential effects on apoptosis induction in hepatocyte lines by stable expression of hepatitis B virus X protein.

Aim: Hepatitis B virus protein X (HBx) has been shown to be weakly oncogenic in vitro. The transforming activities of HBx have been linked with the inhibition of several functions of the tumor suppressor p53. We have studied whether HBx may have different effects on p53 depending on the cell type.

Variable ratio of hepatitis C virus RNA to viral core antigen in patient sera.

Quantification of hepatitis C virus (HCV) core antigen and RNA in serum samples leads to a highly variable ratio of both. It is not clear whether this is due to the inaccuracy of RNA quantification or whether both are independent parameters in a certain range. We established a real-time reverse transcription (RT)-PCR for HCV RNA that combines very high sensitivity with a large dynamic range and minimal standard deviations.

Conserved transactivating and pro-apoptotic functions of hepadnaviral X protein in ortho- and avihepadnaviruses.

Two established activities of the multifunctional human hepatitis B virus X-protein are its transactivating and pro-apoptotic potential. We analysed whether X-proteins from other orthohepadnaviruses and the newly discovered avihepadnaviral X-proteins have similar functions as HBx. Previously, we have shown that HBx suppresses oncogenic transformation of primary rat embryo fibroblasts (REF) by induction of apoptosis.